Stock market today: Asian stocks in particular are rising, supported by the bull market on Wall Street

By YURI KAGEYAMA
AP business writer

TOKYO (AP) Asian stocks were largely up on Friday, led by a jump on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, where stock prices were optimistically boosted by another bull market on Wall Street.

The Japanese benchmark Nikkei 225 was up 1.8% in morning trading to 32,217.76. The Australian S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.4% to 7,126.50. The South Korean Kospi added 0.9% to 2,634.96. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong rose 0.3% to 19,352.59. The Shanghai Composite rose less than 0.1% to 3,215.62.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 0.6%, staying 20% ​​above its October low. That means Wall Street’s main health metric has climbed out of a painful bear market, which fell 25.4% in about nine months.

The arrival of a bull market also does not mean that the stock market has reached its old heights. A 25% drop for the S&P 500 requires a 33% rally to get back on track.

In Thursday’s trading, the S&P 500 was up 26.41 points to 4,293.93. The Dow Jones gained 0.5% to 33,833.61 and the Nasdaq rose 1% to 13,238.52.

Announcing the end of a bear market may seem arbitrary, and different market watchers use different definitions, but it provides a useful marker for investors. It’s also a reminder that investors who can hold through a downturn almost always recoup all of their losses in S&P 500 index funds.

Even though it was driven by so many superlatives, the worst inflation in generations and the fastest rate hikes in decades, this most recent bear market, for example, only lasted about nine months. It stretched from January 3, 2022, when the S&P 500 set a record, to October 12, when it bottomed out. That’s shorter than the typical bear market, and it also resulted in a smaller-than-average loss, according to data from S&P Dow Jones Indices.

It may not look so bad in hindsight, but it certainly feels bad right now, said Brent Schutte, chief investment officer at Northwestern Mutual.

Last year was more painful for investors as both stocks and bonds lost money, he said, something that hasn’t happened in decades.

Much of this increase in bull markets is due to the fact that the economy has refused to go into recession, despite repeated forecasts of a recession. It withstood the highest interest rates since 2007, three high-profile US bank collapses since March, a new threat from the US government of an economy default that shakes the economy, and a range of other challenges.

The bottom line is that the economy has been very resilient, said Anthony Saglimbene, chief markets strategist at Ameriprise Financial. “Although it’s too early to know for sure, stocks look like they’re doing what they normally do when all the negativity in the stock market has been factored in: They’re starting to climb higher in anticipation of better days to come.

The economy has so far avoided recession due to a remarkably solid labor market and consumer spending. Hopes are also growing that the Fed will soon stop raising interest rates.

The broad expectation among traders is that the Fed will keep interest rates stable next week, which would mark the first meeting where it hasn’t raised rates in over a year. While it may raise rates again in July, Wall Street’s hope is that it won’t go further. Inflation has been falling since last summer’s peak.

Challenges remain. This was revealed in a report this week the highest number of U.S. workers filed for unemployment benefits last week since October 2021.

After the unemployment data hit the market, government bond yields gave up the gains made earlier in the morning. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 3.71% from 3.78% at the end of Wednesday. The two-year interest rate, which moves more than expected for the Fed, fell from 4.55% to 4.53%.

In energy trading, US crude fell 44 cents to $70.85 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It lost $1.24 to $71.29 a barrel on Thursday.

Brent crude, the international standard, fell 45 cents to $75.51 a barrel.

In currency trading, the US dollar rose from 138.90 yen to 139.28 Japanese yen. The euro was priced at $1.0778, down from $1.0783.

AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed.

Yuri Kageyama is on Twitter https://twitter.com/yurikageyama